Evening and grading machine



v J. GOULDBOURN EyENING-AND GRADING MACHINE Filed May 6, 1921 40 the rolls shall take hold of the work H45 unless they are first Patented ar. l8, 1924a.

ASSIGNOR T UNITED SHOE TEACHIN- A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

EVENING- AND GRADING MACHINE.

Application filed May 6,

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, Josnrrr Goonnnounn, a subject of the King of England, residing at Leicester, Leicestershire, England, have invented certain Improvements in Evenin and Grading Machines, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification,like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

p This invention relates to roller feed-mechanism or the like and is particularly concerned with the feed mechanism of splitting, grading and other machines used in the manufacture of boots and shoes. 1

The invention will be described by way of example in its application to overcome a particular difiiculty presented in a well known machine for evening and grading boot or shoe parts particulars of one example of which are given in the specification of United States Letters Patent No. 1,058,623.

In this machine the work pieces are suc- 'cessively moved by the operator over a hori- 5 zontal work table into the bite of a pair of feeding rolls the upper of which is smooth and the lowercorrugatedor toothed. The rolls are normally in contact or nearly so,

and the lower one, which acts as a feeler 1 roll to gage the thickness of the work passing between the rolls and correspondingly to set the marking. and evening mechanism of the machine, is mounted to yield downwardly in the vertical plane of the horizontal roll axes.

With this arrangement of feed mechanism, as the work becomes thicker, greater pressure across the table on the work piece is required to be exerted by the operator to ensure that piece and feed it; and not only does this become a burden upon the operator but not infrequently conditions arise under which the rolls entirely fail to draw moved apart to a considerable extent by pressure directly applied by the operator to the roll supporting mechanlsm.

It would appear that owing to the difference in gripping action of the two rolls, (the smoothness of the upper one of which is of moment since marking of the upperusually the grain surface of the work is to I be avoided) a point isattained, as increasingly thicker work pieces are operated upon,

in the work piece 1921. Serial No. 467,454.

at which the upper roll slips over the leading edge of the work and is powerless to drive it forward and into the plane of the roll axes.

. l have found however that if the work be advanced along a plane which intersects the plane of the roll axes on a line both parallel to these axes and within the lower roll and. is inclined with relation to the other plane so as to enclose between itself and the other plane (extending from said line through the upper roll) an angle substantially less than a right angle the dificulty referred to is in a great measure, if not entirely, disposed of and not only can rela-- tively very thick work be easily drawn in by the rolls but little if any pressure urging the work into the bite of the rolls is needed in normal operation.

. One feature of the invention therefore consists in facilitating the feeding of the work by roller feed mechanism, by disposing the support or table over which the work is presented to the rolls, and the rolls, in such relation as appropriately to incline relatively the plane of advance of the work piece to the bite of the rolls and the plane of the roll axes.

These and other features of the invention will be described as embodied in an illustrative machine and pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a portion of an evening and grading machine in which the present invention is embodied;

Fig. 2 is an end elevation, partly in section, on an enlarged scale showing the feed and feeler rolls, the inclined work'table and a piece of work just after it has been presented by the operator to the machine;

Fig. 3 is a View, similar to Fig. 2, but on a smaller scale, showing the work after its forward edge. has been lifted up into contact with the upper roll, and

Fig. l is a view similar to Fig. 3 but showing the work after it has been somewhat farther advanced.

The illustrative machine is like the machine of Patent No. 1,058,623 except that the work table, the plane of which is indicated by the line 5, is inclined about thirty degrees to the horizontal instead of lying in a horizontal plane and that certain small changes in the normal position of the gate 7, the lug 9, which is fast to the gate, and in the length of the gate-lifting rod 11 have been made. In the present machine, as in that of the patent, the work piece, commonly a leather sole, is placed upon the table and pushed beas it encounters thinner or thicker localities in the sole. The vertical movements of the feeler roll 15 are utilized through mechanism,not shown, to set marking mechanism and splitting mechanism, not shown, in accordance withthe thinnest spot in a selected locality of the sole, commonly in accordance with the thinnest spot in the edge of the sole from somewhere in the shank portion to somewhere near the toe end. As soon as the sole enters between the rolls 13 and 15 the gate 7 falls upon its upper face; and as soon as the sole passes from beneath the gate, said gate closes by falling upon the table and remains closed until the sole has passed through the marking and evening mechanism whereupon it is raised once more by mechanism including the lifter-rod 11, and held raised so that a succeeding sole may be presented to the rolls 13, 15. No. further description of the construction and mode of operation of the machine except with respect to the present improvement will be given, reference being made to the patent for a detailed description of its parts.

The present machine has the usual smooth metal upper roll 13 and longitudinally scored or fluted lower roll 15 of equal diameter (some 2 inches) with their axes horizontal andin the same vertical plane. The corrugations or flutings on the lower roll are equidistant (numbering some in all round the roll) and each of a depth perhaps one twentieth to one twenty-fifth of the diameter of the roll. The work table 17, however, instead of being horizontal as in the patented machine, is inclined downwardly towards the lower roll. Its surface is inclined at about 30 to the horizontal, andthe edge of its upper surface where it terminates near and parallel to the bite of the rolls lies in a vertical plane about one inch in front of the plane of the roll axes and in a horizontal plane about 1% inches below the upper 'roll axis. The dimensions given above" are, of course, not controlling. They are presented merely as defining accurately a proportion'of parts which has operated sucessfully.

' Referring now to Fig. 3,'the plane of the work table, indicated by theline A -B, in-

F rr the pl l s th rel es sp ed e As a work piece is fed down this table the leading edge of its lower surface strikes the corrugated lower roll and the work, which may reach ,gof an inch in thickness, is lifted by this roll and advanced somewhat until the leading edge of its upper surface bears on the upper roll, at which time the lower. roll is exerting a pressure on the leading edge of the lower surface which is directed substantially radially of the upper roll so that the resistance of the upper roll does not tend to squeeze the work away from the bite of the rolls, and the upper roll can exert appropriate feeding action while acting also as a rigid abutment vertically, with the result that the lower roll has to yield downwardly and the work is gradually drawn between the rolls. In Figs. 2, 3 and 4: the progress of the sole 100 or other piece of work is shown. In Fig. 2 the lower forward edge of the sole is in contact wlth the lower roll and is received in a groove between the flutings thereof; but the upper forward edge of the sole is not in contact with the upper'roll. Presently the lower roll lifts the forward portion of the sole into the. position shown in Fig. 3 in which the plane of the forward edge of the sole is radial to the upper roll so that there is little or no tendency to squeeze the sole away from the biteof the rolls. In stead, the rolls seize the forward end of the sole and carry it forward. In Fig. a the sole has been advanced somewhat from the position shown in Fig. 3, and the lower roll has been somewhat depressed.

With this construction it is found that workpieces of a thickness which the rolls would be unable to seize were the work fed horizontally will be readily drawn in by the rolls and that thinner pieces of work are also readilyseized and fed.

Although the invention has been set forth as embodied in a particular machine, it should be understood that the invention is not limited in the scopeof its application to the particular machine which has been shown and described.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is: f

' '1. A machine for operating upon pieces ofworljsome of which are thick, i'n'accordand ith'th'e thickness of the thinnest spot in aseleeted locality thereof, having, in combination, a smooth-surfaced roll held from bodily movement, a rough-surfaced roll parallel thereto and mounted to yield away from the smooth-surfaced roll, said rolls being normally substantially in contact, and a work support across which the work is advanced to the bite of the rolls, the work support being so inclined and located as to cause the forward end of the work to contact first with the rough-surfaced roll.

2. Mechanism for seizing and feeding comparatively thick leather blanks comprising upper and lower rolls normally held substantially in contact but capable of relative yielding movement of separation, the periphery of the upper roll being substantially smooth and that of the lower one provided with comparatively wide, longitudinally extending grooves, and a table for facilitating presentation of the blank to the rolls, said table being so located and inclined that the leading lower corner of the blank is received in a groove of the lower roll and the leading upper corner lifted into contact with the upper roll, the plane of the leading edge of the blank at the time of contact being substantially radial to the upper roll.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

JOSEPH GOULDBOURN. 

